in progress….
- When I prepare machines for other people, knitting on the full bed allows me to check a lot of things at once (and knitting JUST the swatch, especially just in the middle of the needle bed, might not show these flaws/problems):
- Are all needles knitting and forming the correct stitches? Do all needles knit (and do not drop stitches)? (Sometimes bent needles get stuck in the carriage, sticky latches form tuck stitches on stockinet, slightly rusted needle heads might not allow for stitches to slide as easily. Visual inspection can overlook these faults. Additionally, dropped stitches could be due to a bent or warped needle bed.)
- Is the carriage gliding smoothly across the full bed? Without static? With even tension? Sometimes the bed can be uneven (bent/warped from old age or from being dropped), and the problems are discovered only when knitting in that area.
- Is the patterning (in some cases needle selection) correct across the whole bed?
- Keep in mind that the very last two needles form more like edge-stitches rather than full stitches. It is recommended not to knit any patterns on these needles. For example, on Brother machines, these two needles should be pushed forward to C when knitting patterns (some Brother carriages can do it automatically).
- Knitting with garter carriage on the full bed:
- It is typically used for blankets, ponchos and other large/wide projects. I found it pretty straightforward (watch video). The garter carriage moves left to right, turns on and off the light at the turn and there is nothing to worry about (like memorizing at which pattern row we stopped, moving the carriage back to be pass the turn light, etc. – you know or will know soon what I mean) when stopping the machine when away or to fix errors.
